DST/NSF: Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (India)

DMREF seeks to foster the design, discovery, and development of materials to accelerate their path to deployment by harnessing the power of data and computational tools in concert with experiment and theory. DMREF emphasizes a deep integration of experiments, computation, and theory; the use of accessible digital data across the materials development continuum; and strengthening connections among theorists, computational scientists, data scientists, mathematicians, statisticians, and experimentalists as well as those from academia, industry, and government. DMREF is committed to the education and training of a next-generation materials research and development (R&D) workforce; wellequipped for successful careers as educators and innovators; and able to take full advantage of the materials development continuum and innovation infrastructures that NSF is creating through partnership with other federal and international agencies.

DMREF will support activities that significantly accelerate the materials discovery-to-use timeline by building the fundamental knowledge base needed to advance the design, development, or manufacturability of materials with desirable properties or functionality.

Potential Areas of Research 

• The DMREF: DST-NSF Joint call for proposals is open to all materials research topics.

Funding Information

• Selected Projects of Indian PIs will be supported up-to 20 million Indian rupees by DST for duration upto four years. The DST funding period is upto four years.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Principal Investigator (PI) and other investigators in India should be scientists/faculty members working in regular capacity in Universities/Deemed Universities/Academic Institutes and National Research & Development Laboratories/Institutes as well as working in private non-profit institutions that carry R&D activities. The Indian Principal Investigator (PI) should not be retiring or leaving the parent institute during the proposed duration of the project.
• Number of proposal submission for Indian investigators as PI in DMREF program is limited to one per call while they can involve as Co-PIs in maximum of two proposals.
• The Indian scientists who are in any way involved in the implementation of two or more projects that were previously supported by the DST (International Group) and that are not expected to be completed by 31 December 2025 are also not eligible to be a member of the research team. This limitation does not apply to projects supported by other divisions or groups within DST.

Guidelines 

• DST and NSF will allow investigators from both countries to collaborate to write a single proposal that will undergo a single review process at NSF, the Coordinating Agency.
• Proposals must represent an integrated collaborative effort between the India and US investigators. Proposals are expected to adhere to the research areas, funding limits, and grant durations for the participating NSF program and for the DST program from which funding is sought. Investigators are advised that all documents submitted to DST or NSF may be shared with the other agency in order to implement the two-way agency activities.
• The proposal should describe the full proposed research program, including the total Indian and U.S. resources that will be part of the project. NSF investigators should indicate only the NSF expenses in the NSF budget. DST investigators should indicate only the DST research expenses on the DST budget form. The DST budget and budget justification must be included in the NSF proposal as a Supplementary Document. The Budget section of the DST proposal should clearly indicate the DST budget with full justification. Proposals that request duplicative funding may be returned without review.
• Indian and US Investigators should submit identical Summary, Description and References in their proposals, using the respective forms prescribed by DST and NSF. Applications submitted by one side only; not on prescribed format and received after due date will not be accepted. Indian/US Investigators should, therefore, ensure that their counterpart submits an application with identical components as described above, on prescribed format as per guidelines of nodal agencies by due date.
• Title of the project submitted on both systems should be identical.
• All proposals should be supported with brief bio-data of entire project team members indicating their affiliation, date of birth, highlights of academic and research activities/awards. For US investigators, date of birth is not required and their bio-sketches may be as per NSF guidelines.
• Through this partnership, India researchers may receive funding from DST and U.S. researchers may receive funding from NSF respectively.
• The support to Indian PIs are primarily for exchange visits, manpower, consumables, contingency and equipment. It may be noted that both sides may not get equal grant (USD to INR). Budget requirement would be assessed as per current norms of human resources or international visit rate. Travel entitlement will be by economy class.
• The proposals will be reviewed by experts contacted by NSF, the Coordinating Agency, in competition with other proposals received for the same funding round of the program to which the proposal is submitted, using NSF’s merit review process. DST will check that the Indian investigator has an active and appropriate role and confirm their eligibility at the onset of the process.
• The Data Management Plan must include mechanisms for sharing and archiving data including, experimental data, results, and software developed and their associated privacy and security aspects.
• For projects involving human subjects/participants or vertebrate animals, investigators should follow both DST and NSF policies, submitting documentation to each as appropriate.
• Only the PIs of the selected projects will be notified by e-mail of the outcomes of the selection process.

For more information, visit DST.